Fred Smith

Or how the neoliberal tactics of Texanomics came to North Carolina.

NC GOP candidate for governor, Fred Smith, sent us a book. Right on the top is an endorsement from Rick Perry, Governor of Texas. And he's coming to the Oriental Shrine Club in Greensboro next Tuesday. Lee Greenwood's gonna sing that song. The thirty percenters will no doubt turn out in droves.

Via email from Americans for Prosperity:

RALEIGH – With tax bills on the minds of millions of North Carolina taxpayers, five of North Carolina’s gubernatorial candidates have signed a pledge to support spending restraint, the grassroots free-market group Americans for Prosperity (AFP) announced today. Candidates Bill Graham, Pat McCrory, Michael Munger, Bob Orr, and Fred Smith have pledged to support a constitutional limit on state spending known as the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR).

A few months ago, my dear sweet mother (devout Republican) told me in an excited and confident tone, "I've got something you really need to read." Since we're both avid readers of fiction, and more often than not can exchange books to our mutual enjoyment, I was mildly piqued. When she revealed who the author was, I went from piqued to pissed off pretty quickly.

My 48th birthday was on Monday, Feb. 25th. I work for a non-profit agency that gets most of its funding from the state, so budgets are tight. One year, we weren't able to give cost of living increases, so the board voted to give our birthdays as a personal holiday. What do you choose to do with a personal holiday? Get a manicure, a massage? Maybe some people would. Not me. I chose to haul my butt out of bed early, get stuck in construction, and fight traffic to get to a Forum on Mental Health so that I could listen to most of the candidates for Governor and Lt.Governor talk about the crisis in North Carolina's Mental Health System. As some of you might have realized by now, I am a political geek, but what you might not know is that I've had two family members struggle with mental illness and fall through cracks - one in NJ, and one in NC. So this was a very important day for me.

Laura Leslie has an interesting take on the relationship between the presidential and gubernatorial races.

Char-O’s Mark Johnson and the N&O’s Rob Christensen weighed in on how a meaningful national primary might influence NC’s state-level races. I think they both make good points, but I have to say - I think the two who stand to gain the most from activity in their respective party primaries are Bev Perdue and Fred Smith.

Cross-posted on Pam's House Blend.

We still have quite a way to go on the LGBT rights front here in NC, which is not exactly a hotbed of homophobia; in many ways the heart of the state has a live and let live attitude on social issues. That doesn't mean however, that our state government is where it needs to be in terms of respecting its tax-paying LGBT citizens.

I'm not just talking about life and death issues, such as violence against people because of sexual orientation or gender identity or being fired from your job. This post is about institutionalized, legal discrimination that is often overlooked, because it isn't a fire raging or putting one's life in jeopardy -- but what lies behind it are the same root causes.

This week I was faced with an amazing professional opportunity related to the sphere of my day job (I'm in academic publishing) that I could not consider for two reasons - both painful, with one completely out of my control.

Ever wonder what political candidates do with all that cash they raise and/or donate to themselves? One of the more interesting expenditures comes from the recent campaign report of state Senator Fred Smith.

You must go read this fabulous post about the Asphalt King, now up at Progressive Pulse.

Ever wonder what political candidates do with all that cash they raise and/or donate to themselves? One of the more interesting expenditures comes from the recent campaign report of state Senator Fred Smith. AP and The Insider are reporting that the GOP gubernatorial wannabe paid a cool $100,000 to country/pop singer Lee Greenwood for a campaign song.

Following a page from the national GOP playbook, nearly all of the Republican gubernatorial candidates refused to show up Saturday for the NAACP debate.

African-Americans make up more than 20 percent of North Carolina’s population.

Republicans would rather ignore 1.1 million African-American voters than address concerns about education, health care, jobs, and safe communities.